Fashion, Dress and Identity in South Asian Diaspora Narratives: From the Eighteenth Century to Monica Ali

Description

This book is the first book-length study to explore the sartorial politics of identity in the literature of the South Asian diaspora in Britain. Using fashion and dress as the main focus of analysis, and linking them with a myriad of identity concerns, the book takes the reader on a journey from the eighteenth century to the new millennium, from early travel account by South Asian writers to contemporary British-Asian fictions. Besides sartorial readings of other key authors and texts, the book provides an in-depth exploration of Kamala Markandaya’s The Nowhere Man (1972), Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), Meera Syal’s Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999) and Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003).This work examines what an analysis of dress contributes to the interpretation of the featured texts, their contexts and identity politics, but it also considers what literature has added to past and present discussions on the South Asian dressed body in Br itain. Endowed with an interdisciplinary emphasis, the book is of interest to students and academics in a variety of fields, including literary criticism, socio-cultural studies and fashion theory. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvi ‘Our Eastern Costume Created a Sensation’: Sartorial Encounters in Eighteenth-, Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Travelogues by South Asian Writers (Noemí Pereira-Ares)....Pages 1-21 The ‘Sartorially Undesirable “Other”’ in Post-War South Asian Diaspora Narratives: Kamala Markandaya’s The Nowhere Man (Noemí Pereira-Ares)....Pages 23-57 ‘It Was Stylish and “in” to Be Eastern’? Subversive Dress in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (Noemí Pereira-Ares)....Pages 59-104 ‘Chanel Designing Catwalk Indian Suits’: Sartorial Negotiations in Meera Syal’s Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (Noemí Pereira-Ares)....Pages 105-148 ‘She Had Her Hijab Pulled Off’: Dressed Bodies Do Matter in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (Noemí Pereira-Ares)....Pages 149-194 Back Matter ....Pages 195-255